Best of the Maldives: Seaside Pitches – Kandima

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Kandima - football pitch

As the football season winds down caped by Liverpool’s win last night, more and more footie stars are heading to the Maldives for some post-season recuperative therapy. Bunyamin’s legendary feed is packed recently with star players invading paradise over the past week.

If they start to miss kicking around the ball, then the most idyllic venue would be Kandima’s seaside pitch. Kind of evokes the luxurious coastal cachet of AC Monaco’s Stade Louis II (while the infrastructure is undoubtedly more modest, one could argue that the scenery is even better). Yes, most of the players are resident staff, but guests are always welcome to join in. Most of the time, these football grounds are sequestered in the interior of the island in the staff area. But Kandima has kindly situated its pitch right by the beach. So for the spectators, if the match gets boring (like most of last nights Champions League final), they can always gaze out on the picturesque ocean. Of maybe, amble over to the adjacent badminton court with the same seaside positioning some racquet fun.

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Best of the Maldives: Football Pitch Profile – Hurawalhi

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Hurawalhi - football pitch

Everyone will be clamouring for the best seat in the house (or pub) to watch the culmination of the football season with the Tottenham vs. Man City Champions League game today (though it will be tough to match the excitement of the semis which got them both here). Fortunately, at Hurawalhi, all the guests are treated to a fine view of the periodic staff matches. Unlike most resorts, the pitch is not segregated in the back out of sight in a sequestered staff area, but front and (literally) center (of the fitness facilities) that makes it all the more encouraging for guests to join in or watch. And the grounds themselves are as high standard as the 5-star property itself with state of the art flood lit astro turf.

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Best of the Maldives: Table Grill – Finolhu

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Finolhu - table grill

If the walk from the buffet grill to your table is just too many seconds where your food can cool off. Or if you want to take a hands on control of getting your food grilled precisely to your liking (with the opportunity to conveniently pop it back on for a bit if not quite right), then the “table grill” at Finolhu’s Kanusan restaurant is the place for you.

Not the pokey tea lamp warmers, but a proper mini-grill on your table. The charcoal used is made on the island from waste wood and is accented with sprigs of lemon grass for a bit of exotic infusion.

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Best of the Maldives: Fish Cooking Class – Park Hyatt Hadahaa

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Park Hyatt Hadahaa fish cooking class

You don’t get much more fresh or more local than reef fish caught with your own hands a few hours earlier in the ocean just yards away. While many resorts will grill up the catch from your fishing excursion, Park Hyatt Hadahaa lets you take the “by my own hands” vibe a step further with a fish cooking class so you can take it all the way from sea to seasoning yourself…

  • “Learn how to create the perfect marinade and discover the secrets behind grinding and mixing traditional Maldivian spices used to prepare local fish. Our chef offers this culinary class amid the Maldivian surroundings of The Island Grill.”

The class is available on request from 3:00 – 4:00 pm at The Island Grill with a $75 USD per person charge.

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Best of the Maldives: Maldivian Cuisine Night – Makunudu

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Makunudu - Maldivian cuising night 5

Over two decades I have been to countless “Maldivian Nights” at resort restaurants, but none so extensive as Makunudu’s lavish and authentic spread. Sometimes “Maldivian Night” is primarily little more than a bunch of reef fish curry. But Makunudu’s included all sort of delicacies and ingredients (the photos here provide a sample of the cuisine on offer). My favourite had to be the Fried Tapioca Chips which I had never sampled in all my years visiting despite being a huge tapioca fan.

Makunudu - Maldivian cuisine night 4

Makunudu - Maldivian cuisine night 3

Makunudu - Maldivian cuisine night 2

Makunudu - maldivian cuisine night

Makunudu - maldivian cuisine night 5

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Best of the Maldives: Coconut Spa Treatments – Vakkaru

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Vakkaru - coconut treatments

If you want to not just wear, but infuse yourself with the blossoming fruit of paradise, then Vakkaru’s Signature Journey at Merana Spa will immerse you in the soothing and regenerative oils of the coconut in nearly every manner imaginable…

· “Our signature treatment at the overwater Merana Spa is a 150-minute immersive full-body journey inspired by the finest natural healing and moisturising elements of the coconut. Treatment includes a 15-minute coconut haircare experience, followed by a coconut and sugar body scrub, milk bath with coconut-based nourishments served during your bath and finally, this unique ritual includes a body massage with steamed coconut shell to leave you feeling relaxed, balanced and rejuvenated.”

This cuckoo for coconuts extravagance actually harkens back to the island’s heritage as a coconut plantation with over 1400 coconut trees before it was made into a resort.

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Best of the Maldives: Jewellery – Vommuli

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Vommuli - jewellry 1

Taking inspiration from the Maldives is a range maker of jewellery inspired by the tapestry of dappled colours both twinkling across its gentle waters, adorning the schools of tropical fish underwater, and filtering through the canopy of swaying palm trees. Ritika Ravi is part of the St. Regis Vommuli family herself and her visits there sparked her design

  • “Ritika Ravi’s jewellery line gives precious stones like polki and sapphires a contemporary, sea-inspired makeover Cartier’s perennial favourite, the stackable rings, meets Gucci’s enamelled and bejewelled ones, but with an Indian aesthetic, in Ritika Ravi’s Ivar Jewellery. The inaugural collection, 10.18, is a combination of gems with white and rose gold, ‘inspired by a vacation to the Maldives’. Ravi used polki (uncut diamonds) and sapphires from Sri Lanka to mimic the crystal clear waters and the many shades of blue of the sea surrounding the tropical island… While she largely retails online, her only brick-and-mortar store is, quite fittingly, at her family-owned The St Regis Maldives Vommuli Resort.”

Prices range from $300 – $400 and can be bought at her online shop at Ivar Jewellery.

This latest example of “Maldives Inspired Design” has in turn inspired me to add a tag for it.

Vommuli - jewellery 2

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Best of the Maldives: Eco-Video Series – Soneva Fushi

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The Netflix series “Our Planet” is the latest in the David Attenborough wildlife adventures with an increasing emphasis on its fragility and need for preservation. Soneva Fushi introduces a slate of its own budding guides to the natural world of its own little plot of sand in the middle of the ocean with its Change-Maker series and the efforts they are undertaking to preserve this little corner of our planet…

  • “Films that highlight how we’re recognising and tackling some of the issues greater than ourselves; told by the Change-Makers of Soneva. These amazing individuals represent everything we stand for – recognising that it’s their role to be part of the positive change we want our planet to see. From Ellie Butler, Soneva Jani’s Marine Biologist tackling ocean plastic to Chef Kevin Fawkes, who creates dishes beyond our wildest imagination with ingredients from our organic garden.”
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Best Dive Chart

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Whale shark dive chart

What is a complete guide to the Maldives without including the underwater wonderland that surrounds every resort? Which is why I introduced features like the Snorkel Spotter and the Dive Site database (over 1800 Maldives dive sites and counting).

I have a particular aesthetic fondness for the colourful dive site charts used to brief dives. Some are slick computer generated cartography while others are rough, smudged sketches. They all have their individual charm and story to tell about the aquatic world you are about to explore. But having curated hundreds of these diagrams, I spotted what has to be my all-time favourite on Instagram last week depicting Maamigili

in South Ari Atoll. I actually had a dive chart for that site in that database (see below), but it was nothing like the oeuvre of the Indico’s Secret dive crew (above).

Oftentimes, the charts focus on depth changes, key positional markers and the occasional resident marine life. This version was all about the latter. A whale shark to be specific. Let’s be absolutely clear here…when you are diving Maamigili, you have one thing, and one thing only in your mind and sights – spotting a whale shark. So rather than faffing around with lots of irrelevant topological features, the dive master simply drew ‘this is what we are jumping in the water for…good luck spotting’.

Maamagili dive chart

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